- George Lopez show, America's Funniest Home Videos (but don't like it when someone really does get hurt), American Idol and, puzzlingly, NCIS...

Not sure how much of Cartoon Network's 'secret sauce' you could use in content development but there were some useful insights from Jeff. And Avaturd was pretty amusing - even for the older demographic in the room...

Implications for media creators? What's critical to remember is that you can't create a one size fits all character. Consider stories which allow 'safe risk-taking'. High stakes for girls and boys in social situations. At the same time home is huge.

Panellists - yes, the real teens - are introduced and invited to share an object which identifies them.

Sarah, 15 - a notebook (she's a self-proclaimed writer)

Alex, 13 - a longboard (he likes to skate with his friends and the adrenaline which comes with it)

Chanse, 16 - his state championship ring, they went 12 and 0

Jake, 17 - a pitch pipe, as he sings in Passing Notes, the choir we heard at the beginning of the session.

Rachel, 13 - her phone. (obvs)

Nysialisa, 17 - her handbag

Question: What is something about you that your parents don't know, but wish they did?

- How much stress we're under

- That I am trying as hard as I can

- That I'm really smart, even if I don't look it

What age are you most excited to be?

-Three was a good age

- 17 is the year I get to drive

- College ages - 18-22. Because that's when you get to move on and be independent.

Primary strategy in dealing with parents? Rebellion or negotiation?

- A bit of both.

- Always a good reason on both sides; it's about finding the balance

- It's neither. It's the relationship you have with them

Best digital place to reach teens?

Through an app. And it has to be free or 99c.

Games are good - more than social. They talk about the game of the moment - used to be Words with Friends, now Ruzzle.

Alex
talked about the tween audience in this context.Gen C is lifeblood of their platform.But challenge in 2011 - when started
channels concept - was that they were a platformof

'random
awesomeness'. Felt there was an opportunity to giveYT some structure which would deliver returnvisits and increased engagement.AND would help ad revenues.

Wanted to
create 'lighthouses' of next generation content.

This is
where teens/tweens go daily. They connect with and share the content.

AwesomenessTV 70 m views in 6 months, targeting tween audience. Well received by investors
- and the Wall Street Journal.Started with a meeting with Fred, early YT star from Omaha, Nebraska and
decision not to take him into mainstream media (MSM). Immediacy was key attractor - make stuff and
get it published fast.Team of
30/40 working on Awesomeness TV now.

Secret
sauce: Produce regularly, know your audience and give them what they want.

Differences
between producing for MSM and YT - no more Nielsen.Immediate feedback via comments. Pay attention to your
community - no arrogance in this space.

Alex from
YT says that they create great analytics tools for partners.

Barry
noted that seeing some of their contentout there makes kids think that they can be creators too.That can't happen with traditional
media.

Teen/tween
audience'lean in' the most, says
Alex from Google. They tend to spend most hours on the platformon a daily basis. It
becomesa group viewing
behaviourround the computer,
instead ofroundthe TV.

That said, it's hard
to get discovered on YT today, says Brian from Varsity Pictures.

Brian
says that IMO is one which relies on social media to drive it - and attract teen girls.They took big stars on YT and put them alongside stars ofSocial media
to deliver 5/6 minute daily programme.Huge hit.

Other
sources of revenue apart from YT?Alloy have some which are 100% funded by YT, others are created with
Sponsors or fundedby them.What's most effective is pairing a
brand/channel with an advertiser. Late 2012 they did a programmefor Ubisoftand launch of Assasin's Creed 3. 30 million views to date.

Alex,
from YT, says that majority of funded content on YT is not fundedby them.Freddie Wong is raising money on Kickstarter forVideo GameHigh School, which got 40 m views in Season1.

Amazon
going into its first pilot season.Roy studiously avoided any commenton how much money they have.

Tara
focusing on preschool, transitional preschool and 6-11.Looking at corecurriculum outcomes in content and
mixing it up alittle. Music and
maths,for example.Less educational material in older
demo.Sweet spot - 8-10s

Traditional
pilots 11 and 22minutes.Tumbleleaf is one.Androids and Creative Galaxy areothers. Also doing a series based on
Wizard of Oz.Henson doing Teeny,
Tiny Dogs for them.

What is
pitching process? Online and meetings.$10k option payment. Looking for animatics to take to focus groups.Will look for global rights but this
might be on a case by case basis.

Distributionof finished product?Will go on amazon.com andbein Prime
Video service, through portable devices and set-top boxes.In UK will be part of Love Film
service.

Random
hilarity moment where delegate volunteered to Gangnam dance for a Kindle! Bit
of a break in the serious business discussion, there...

Tara and
Roy both totally blanked on 'What about the Online component?' question. Ironic
that a web company is now moving into TV content (and movies)but hasn't thought about the web
element!

Overall,
Amazon Studios seemed a little unfocused around their offering.Maybe a little early to put them in
front of a room-full of media executives who are hungry for info?It feels like they want to be
'disruptive' and challenge traditionalmedia.But they're not
quite there yet.

Intro: Digital natives are now touch-screen natives. Kids use digital media more and at an earlier age. In 2005 entry level for digital experiences was 8! Every platform provides a new set of opportunities - and new gatekeepers coming online all the time (Netflix, Amazon etc)

Panellists:

Adina Pitt, Cartoon Network - Cartoon just celebrated 20th Anniversary and started off to exploit Hanna Barbera library. Now a brand which has evolved into a destination kids AND parents want to go to - no longer 'the naughty channel'. Primarily a boys' channel - no.1 destination for boys 6-11 but 'girl inclusive'.

JJ Ahern - Licensing Street. Digital has changed everything for his business. Walmart considers their number one 'toy' is iPod Touch.

PBS Digital works very closely with tv programme-makers/commissioners. New technology benefits kids with different learning styles. Content has become more integrated at outset and asset-sharing and capture planned at that stage - they don't put the broccoli on top of the cookie once it's baked! Sometimes kids get to know characters from digital properties first and this can cause clashes when they see characters they know from apps on TV.

In the US, curriculum is increasingly part of the development process at the outset - and on multiple platforms.

According to Adina from Cartoon Network, content can be sourced from all kinds of places now, in addition to the traditional pitch. A lot of games/apps are crossing into on-air content. The state of the economy is the elephant in the room. Budgets have to go much further.

Dubit's virtual world commission for PBS was mentioned by Silvia Lovato and recommended because the research and audience insight was so strong.

Big challenge is migrating games from flash on web to mobile platforms. Build for all devices! Big need...

Social media and web is being used more and more by buyers to do research on brands/properties. Social media marketing also more important to impress buyers.

How much should production companies come to commissioners with full 360 package, including digital experiences? PBS say come with digital potential thought through. Cartoon Network, however, would encourage producers to 'create a world', not just brand extensions. Make core idea very strong and come to the table with a strong concept, and maybe interactive ideas in back pocket.

The 'transmedia' word. Is it an eye-roller or still valid in pitching? Let's get back to 360 or cross-platform!

Monday, February 04, 2013

It's almost twenty-three years to the week since my first visit to New York - and indeed to the US.

I'd come to work at the BBC on a three-month attachment as a researcher/director and had been given a studio apartment on West 14th Street. Arriving on a Saturday evening I woke early the next morning, with the obligatory jet-lag, and to the sound of ambulances racing along 14th Street, 21 floors below.

I will never forget my first hour or so in New York on a chilly February Sunday. The streets were deserted and I felt like I had Greenwich Village to myself. I discovered the Food Emporium - first experience of an American supermarket - and stocked up on supplies. I bought an enormous Sunday New York Times from a news stand, where the guy was still unpacking the papers. Then I had my first American coffee in the little Greek diner next to the apartment.

And that's how my love affair with America began. Yesterday, on another cold Sunday morning, I set off at 7am to explore the area around my hotel in Hell's Kitchen and felt as excited as I did all those years ago. And, once more, my wander culminated in coffee and a paper.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

As someone who loves the research involved in a trip - regularly checking for updates to the reviews of my hotel on Trip Advisor, planning my wardrobe around the Weather Channel (what does one pack for 'damaging winds and isolated tornadoes'?) and even previewing what in-flight movies will be available - finding a blog post from a fellow delegate (and Kidscreen veteran) which helps this particular addiction has been invaluable.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A little heads-up for anyone about to take a walk down Blog Lane to some of the older posts in here. Quite a few of the links are dead now - symbolic of the fast-paced, hurly-burly of the new media life? - so please don't be too disappointed if you can't source someone's biog or a long-gone dot.com site.

Friday, January 25, 2013

It's been a while since I've been on here (only five or so years...) but, in advance of Kidscreen 2013 in New York, I thought I'd dust this blog down and post a few bits and pieces before the summit, as well as reporting back during it.

So, it's a week to go before I head over to Manhattan and, as any good conference-attender knows, it's about this time when you check out the website to see who else is coming so you can plan meetings, drinks, lunches and so on.

And I thought I really should share some of the more interesting titles in the Summit's delegate list. All these are real, folks:

- Evangelist - Film, Animation and Gaming

- Executive in Charge of the Space

- Extraterrestrial Rights Manager

- Manager of TV Ra Tim Bum

- Partner and Channel Socialist

In amongst the CEOs, Directors and VPs, these are obviously the ones to seek out for some fun and jollity.

Joel Hyatt started with the provative statement that many folk in the room might think that TV is dead. It’s not, he said. It’s just that much of tv sucks. (Cue laughter…) What Current wanted to do, when they started up, was to bring the magic of the internet to tv, not the dumbness of TV to the web.

He gave us some examples of what they're up to, including the launch this week of their 'pod assignment' initiative.

Mike wasn't quite so bullish in selling Joost but he was quietly confident in what it was all about, and who it appeals to.

From then on in, it was a rather tame debate about which was better – UGC on demand or professionally-created content on demand.

Jane McGonigal is Lead Games Designer at the Institute for the Future (cool!)and talked about games will connect better with reality. She suggested that networked games work better than reality in three areas:

- They come with better instructions (though, I can't remember when I last saw a young gamer read the manual).

- You get scores, energy tables and get a sense of how you are performing within that world - the kind of feedback you don't get in the real world.

- You also get better community in a virtual world - everyone shares the same sense of purpose.

Average gamer in a MMO spends 16+ hours a week in the game and about 10+ thinking about it. For Jane, this is rational behaviour.

So for many games, virtual reality is beating reality.

A rather radical approach to bringing kids back to the real world is something like Chore Wars - which appears to be quite popular, if a tad ironic. Or a game Jane designed called Cruel 2 B Kind - where you attack people with kindness, instead of AK47s.

Finally, she mentioned a game called World without Oil, a learning tool creating a virtual world around a fictional scenario without oil.

A forecast from Jane is that there will be attempts to embed the dynamic of virtual gameplay into ordinary life. Meanwhile new, 'non-gamers' will get into this space. Result? A new wave of immersive, life-changing games which move into the mainstream.

His first question centred around two users Firstly, his brother-in-law, who’s just bought a 50-inch flat-panel monitor, to which he attached his mac, his xbox and his cable box. Then, there’s someone who gave up their cable service, got a super-fast broadband connection into his living room which gives him all his entertainment and telephony.

Past and future in one question – linked via IPTV and new technologies which are becoming more and more mainstream. So how do CBS and Comcast respond to this level of sophistication in the audience today?

Comcast, as largest ISP in the US right now, know that they have a way to create content gateways which they hope will appeal to these users but Amy thinks that cable TV is still here for some time to come.

Quincy, from CBS, feels that, if you do web content right, you can extend your brand and your content beyond borders. What people want to watch on their flat-sceen monitor and what they want online, though, is different. And CBS.com needs to appeal to both of these viewing trends and appeal to ‘new eyeballs’ at the same time.

He talked a little about You Tube and said that one of the most-watched clips there last week had been a chunk from CBS’s David Letterman Show, where he interviewed Paris Hilton. It wasn’t uploaded by CBS but by someone called Mangoface247, and got almost 4 million views. This is a real challenge for them. (No, really?)

Amy pointed out that online viewing has yet to cannibalise tv viewing and that people just want video. And they want to be able to access it seamlessly, regardless of what screen they view it on.

Josh asked about how each speaker was using social networks. Quincy talked about how the internet can help audiences talk about ‘watercooler moments’ from tv and how they need to facilitate this conversation in next generation tools and applications. In CBS’s case they’re either buying or partnering with companies to deliver these.

A question from the floor from an American living in London who challenged Quincy’s assertion that you can get your content beyond borders as he can’t access some CBS content. CBS Interactive network - Innertube - is offering clips and news on this, said Quincy, targeting the international market specifically. But they need to be careful not to jeopardise their international sales by offering full episodes. It’s a delicate balancing act, he said. And sees cross-border content as having marketing/teaser benefits, rather than duplicating the broadcast service.